A Human-Centered Approach for Designing a Social Care Referral Platform

Background Health Information Technology is increasingly being used to help providers connect patients with community resources to meet health-related social needs (e.g., food, housing, transportation). Research is needed to design efficient, simple, and engaging interfaces during a sensitive process that involves multiple stakeholders. Research is also needed to understand the roles, expectations, barriers, and facilitators these different stakeholders (i.e., patients, providers, and community-based organizations [CBOs]) face during this process. Objectives We applied the human-centered design approach to develop a multi-interface social care referral platform. This approach allowed us to understand the needs of each stakeholder and address potential workflow concerns. Methods This paper reports on the research team's understanding of the design process from 48 different user tests. We conducted three rounds of user testing on an interactive prototype(s) and adapted the prototype after each round. Results Our results summarize several key findings useful for patients, clinical teams, and staff of CBOs when designing a social care referral platform. Our user testing highlighted that patient-facing interfaces offer tremendous opportunities to allow patients to be the leader of the social care referral process. CBOs have varying needs that must be addressed, and providing CBO staff with opportunities to connect with patients is critical. Finally, health care teams have more structured workflows. Integration within the electronic health record system provides opportunities for health care staff to support their patients more easily given these barriers. Conclusion Our resulting, patient-centered platform allows patients to self-screen and self-refer to organizations that match their unmet needs.